


The Child

by Jen425



Series: Greater Transgressions [11]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka adopt this kid soon please, F/F, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Holiday, Neglect, Steela is the sane one, Ventress likes this kid, the Skywalker’s are a great bunch of disasters and Rory wants in, they ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-17 00:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16964616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Honestly, the surprising part is that it took so long.





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to time skip and fluff.
> 
> The Council has been taken down and replaced (Ahsoka was actually voted on the New Council, I think. Yes, she did join the New Jedi), everyone is mostly healed, and the twins happened about two years behind schedule. I think that’s all the backround needed.
> 
> Rory belongs to lylilunapotter here on Ao3/@panakin-anakin-skywalker on Tumblr. She was created for this verse and used with permission.

Ahsoka smiles at Rory gently as the kid follows her.

 

“I really get to see your ship?” They ask. Ahsoka laughs.

 

“Yup,” she says. “It’s fairly medium size seeing as Asajj needs space to hold her bounties and Steela needs room for smuggling, but we get into too many fights to not be easily movable.”

 

Rory just shrugs.

 

“I don’t care,” they say. “What are your wives like?”

 

Ahsoka can practically feel her eyes soften as she thinks of Asajj and Steela. And ignores the nagging feeling in the Force that she has them with her through miracles.

 

“Steela’s brilliant,” she says. “When We were teens, I met her leading a rebellion on her planet against the Separatists, and she not only won, but she’s still a respected and loved by most of Onderon. Which she usually stays at unless her brother needs help on his newest reckless idea, but we’re here for a holiday, so…”

 

Rory looks at her in awe.

 

“That’s so cool!” they say. “And your other wife?”

 

“Asajj is a bounty hunter,” Ahsoka says. “Though you probably know her better from old war propaganda about Ventress.”

 

“You’re married to VENTRESS?!?!!”

 

Ahsoka laughs.

 

“Don’t worry,” she says. “She’s changed. There were several events that… kind of forced it.”

 

They really would never be enough, but her wife has changed, so it is what it is. 

 

Anyways.

 

“Here we are,” Ahsoka says as they arrive at the docking bay. They usually rent one because Asajj and the Jedi still don’t like each other, very much.

 

Rory looks up.

 

“Wow.”

 

Ahsoka just smiles at them.

 

“Come on, let me introduce you to my partners.”

 

And Rory continues to follow her in step.

 

Naturally, her wives’ responses are predictable.

 

_ “Oh look what you brought home,” _ Asajj says sarcastically, over their bond.  _ “I’m surprised it took you so long to follow in Skywalker and Koon’s footsteps.” _

 

Ahsoka shrugs.

 

“Steela, Asajj, this is Rory,” she says. “They’re a friend of the twins and I offered to watch them when they said that their parents were busy, tonight, and that they usually let them go wherever.”

 

Which, okay, was  _ very _ questionable in many other societies besides the Jedi, for an eight year old, but…

 

Well, if Rory gets in trouble, Ahsoka will just get them out or apologize to their parents, depending on why they lied.

 

Steela successfully stares at her sarcastically. Asajj smiles.

 

“Well that’s nice,  _ dear _ ,” Asajj says. “Why don’t I show the kid around. It seems Steela here wants to talk to you.”

 

Ahsoka simultaneously sighs and laughs, inside.

 

“Sure,” she says before adding, in the bond.  _ “Please keep her away from blasters that do more than stun.” _

 

Asajj smiles.

 

_ “Don’t worry,” _ she says.  _ “I will.” _

 

The moment Rory and Asajj are gone, however, Steela turns her attention to Ahsoka.

 

“Why am I not surprised, with the people who raised you?” she asks. Ahsoka laughs.

 

“Funnily, Asajj said the exact same thing.”

 

“Well, it’s true,” Steela says. “I hope you don’t plan on keeping her, we’re all too big targets from three different sets of nasties. It’s hard enough as it is.”

 

“Katooni—”

 

“Went on her first  _ dangerous  _ off-planet mission with us at 15,” Steela said. “Not that she didn’t get into trouble before that.”

 

“With Hondo,” Ahsoka adds, helpfully.

 

“Exactly.”

 

Ahsoka sighs, thinking of her recently-Knighted former Padawan. The human had been one of the people put through the Old Jedi Council’s reconditioning ringer. (She’ll always think of it as reconditioning because her men had been like older brothers, to her, her kinship with them had felt, in the parts of herself that she had ignored back before things had been fixed, much closer and more natural than her connection to the Jedi, and she regretted leaving them, when they couldn’t even leave in the first place, the most.)

 

And, despite how strong Katooni is and was, it had made for a rough start to her time as a Padawan.

 

But, hey, Katooni is off on her third mission alone, now, a month in to something that was supposed to last two weeks, as is typical with this line.

 

Hopefully, she’ll be home by the end of the week.

 

But, anyways.

 

“I like them, okay?” she says. “The Force… it’s calling me to Rory. And they have family, here on Coruscant. Unless my suspicions are right in any terrible way, anyways. They have both family and a safe place to live, here on Coruscant, so they’ll be fine.”

 

Steela sighs.

 

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Ahsoka,” she says. Ahsoka laughs.

 

“I  _ probably  _ do.”

 

“Good enough.”

 

And, like clockwork, the sound of a stun blast can be heard in the distance.


	2. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally!!! Done!!!

Every day since first meeting Ahsoka’s wives, Rory finds an excuse to visit either the ship, Senator Amidala’s apartment, or both. It’s nice, there, what a family should be.

 

They bake cookies in unfamiliar symbols as Luke chases after a sugar-hyper Jay with a spatula. They sing songs from three cultures, as, apparently, Tatooine, their own home planet of Nalaria, and the Jedi somehow manage to have their important holidays mostly line up, and everyone seamlessly integrates their own celebrations into their activities.

 

In truth, they think they've celebrated the Light Songs more here than with their parents.

 

(Not that it takes much to do so. Their parents are politicians and never cared for Rory’s interest in their own culture outside of looking good.)

 

Asajj ( _ “don’t call me Lady Ventress, kid. It’s just Asajj.” _ ) is always teased and worriedly reminded by Steela and Ahsoka to keep the blasters on stun when she shows Rory how to use them. Anakin and Fives and Padme and Dorme and Sabe all smile and laugh with and hold each other.

 

It’s actually amazing, even if Rory is slowly getting used to it.

 

But Rory still goes home for the stiff and publicized version of the Light Songs with her parents. They’re almost over, and her parents at least remember to give her one evening with their attention on her during the Final Song.

 

But…

 

Their parents seem hurried even on the night of the Final Song, and they’re throwing their fancy coats back on over even fancier clothing the moment the camera man leaves. Rory hurries to go grab their own coat.

 

“Where are we going?” they ask. Their mother straightens her coat and turns to look at Rory.

 

“You aren’t going with us,” she say. “ there’s a gala we need to attend.”

 

…What?

 

“But it’s Final Song!”

 

“Can’t Be missed, Derora,” their father said. “Your presents are in the center of the lanterns, and take the chauffeur if you go anywhere in case we need to find you.”

 

“But—”

 

“No more, Derora,” their mother says. Rory sighs, drooping.

 

“Okay,” they says.

 

Their parents leave (Rory can distantly hear her parents complaining about having to continue to act nice for the few months left until they divorce), and Rory doesn’t even bother to open their presents before they are flying to Ahsoka’s ship.

 

Senator Amidala’s home is nice, but Ahsoka’s ship has quickly become Rory’s favorite place to go. They slip through the shipyards and to the private docking bay quickly as they can, and type in the code Ahsoka had shown them.

  
  
  


Ahsoka laughs as she blocks another of Asajj’s blows with her saber. There’s stuff in the hold, so they’re sparring on, underneath, and around the ship. This is a weird brand of fun and familiar because, outside sparring that was mostly in flat sparring spaces, she hasn’t really dueled in slightly more difficult locations much in… seven or eight years, when the Old Council had been defeated.

 

But she’s not so focused on the fight that she doesn’t hear the door open, turning around to see them do so over a small, familiar figure.

 

“Rory?” she asks. “What are you doing here?”

 

Rory just droops, tugging their coat further over their montrails.

 

“Mother and father were busy, and they said I could go out,” they say. “Can I stay with you?”

 

Ahsoka turns to Asajj.

 

_ “Well?” _ she asks.

 

_ “I vote we let the kid stay,” _ Asajj replies.  _ “They’re cute. _ ”

 

Great. Two out of three and Steela is already outvoted on this one. Besides, the kid is already upset as it is. Ahsoka smiles.

 

“Come on in, Rory,” she says. “We weren’t expecting you.”

 

The child scuffs their feet.

 

“Are you sure?” they ask. “If I’m a problem, I can go…”

 

Ahsoka just smiles, biting back the urge to growls at Rory’s parents.

 

“Of course,” she says. “We weren’t expecting you, but I can fix up the guest bedroom. And your gift!”

 

“If you’d told us gifts were involved before the day of we might even have put more thought into it,” Asajj adds, sarcastically and  _ oh so helpfully _ .

 

Rory just laughs,

 

“Thank you!” they say. Ahsoka holds out her hand, and the eight year old child walks over and grabs it without much hesitation, all three of them walking into the ship together.

  
  
  


“So what do you do for the Final Song with your parents, Rory?” Ahsoka asks. Rory shrugs. They didn’t think they’d make it this far.

 

“Not much,” they say. “We sing the Song, open presents, and just curl up with each other like they…”

 

Like they care about them or each other.

 

Because their parents don’t care about them, not like Anakin and Padme and Fives and Sabe and Dorme care about the twins o Jay or Ahsoka or any of the others.

 

And they knew that their parents didn’t like each other.

 

Which… hurts, but…

 

Rory sighs.

 

“Not much,” they say again, taking another bit out of the delicious cookie Ahsoka had given to them from her own portion. It’s so hard to find good cookies as an obligate carnivore, and Anakin’s are the best!

 

(Okay, they admit it, they are just a bit jealous of the twins and their family.)

 

“We did most of it together when I came over to Luke and Leia’s house this afternoon.”

 

Ahsoka looks at them sadly. Why is she sad? Some families are just… just like Rory’s. It’s just how it works.

 

But the expression is gone in a moment.

 

“Well then why don’t we watch a holo?” Steela asks. Rory shrugs.

 

“Okay,” they say. It does sound fun.

  
  
  


Ahsoka lets out a sigh the moment the door to the guest bedroom closes. Force.

 

Rory has been tight lipped about their parents, of course, and that hadn’t escaped Ahsoka. Force, it had even been familiar as she’d never particularly felt comfortable talking about the Old Jedi to outsiders, worried of how it might have sounded, on the outside. The “outside” was right, of course, but the point still stands.

 

In fact, that is the point.

 

And, true, there was a legitimately important gala, tonight, and Lux was going, but Padme had weaseled her way out for the holidays, so…

 

Well, honestly. Ahsoka can imagine that she’d looked similar after she first came out to her Clan. Not completely unsurprised, just… disappointed. She’d run to Plo, knowing he’d support her, and he’d lead her in meditation until she’d calmed before asking her what was wrong, gripping her shoulder, gently.

 

The fact that Rory felt so similarly about them that they’d run here is… kind of flattering. And heartbreaking because she’s only known the child for like a month, so what had Rory done before that?

 

Ahsoka flops across her partners’ laps.

 

“I’m starting to do more than suspect that Rory’s parents are terrible,” she says. “Though at they aren’t part of a cult. I think. Do either of you know anything about the Nalarian Senator and Governor?”

 

Steela shakes her head.

 

Asajj, helpfully, says “I’ve never been asked to kill them.”

 

Great. Very useful.

 

Ahsoka sighs, again.

 

“Well,” she says. “At least I can drive her home again and see if they’re home, this time. Maybe seeing them and speaking to them will help me figure out what to do. The worst thing I could do is go in blindly. Jedi were…”

 

Jedi had been reconditioned or sent to the Citadel if they were suspected of “revealing Jedi Secrets.”

 

Ahsoka sighs.

 

“I have to be careful,” she says. “But I also can’t just stand by and wonder.”

 

Steela sighs.

 

“I trust you know what you’re doing,” she says. “But you better make sure Rory's safe with us, too.”

 

Asajj just laughs.

 

“The kid learns quick,” she says. “She’ll be fine.”

 

And Ahsoka smiles. Yes… this is nice. She can worry about what to do in the morning.

 

“Why don’t we all go to bed?” she asks. “This break might as well be used to the fullest.”

 

And she falls asleep with her wives beside her and the child that she’s decides is hers, regardless of if she’ll have to make it that way, legally, right next door.

 

(Honestly, she very much understands the appeal to her former Master.)

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: @flaim-ita
> 
> Pillowfort: Flaim


End file.
